Bitcoin Miner IREN Secures $9.7 Billion Cloud Deal with Microsoft
IREN’s record-high stock price underscores investor enthusiasm following its $9.7 billion GPU cloud partnership with Microsoft, reinforcing Bitcoin miners’ pivot toward AI and high-performance computing services.
IREN Ltd.’s shares surged to a record high this month after announcing a $9.7 billion multi-year GPU cloud deal with Microsoft, granting Azure access to NVIDIA GB300 GPUs from its Texas data centers. The contract, supported by $5.8 billion in Dell infrastructure purchases and four new liquid-cooled facilities, is projected to generate $1.94 billion annually by 2026. The announcement reflects a broader shift by Bitcoin miners toward AI-centered data center services, with industry peers like Cipher Mining also securing major hyperscaler agreements.
- GPU: Graphics Processing Unit used for high-performance computing, including cryptocurrency mining and artificial intelligence workloads.
- Bitcoin Miner: A company or individual that uses computing power to validate Bitcoin transactions and secure the network in exchange for rewards.
- Neocloud: A sector of data center firms that evolved from cryptocurrency mining into providing AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.